Hi Tim, I'll certainly post on how it goes when I have a satisfactory solution.
The hardware is identical - which is why the re-imaging option looks better than an automated rebuild. A rebuild could typically take a lot longer to run than a re-image (assuming I don't do a byte-for-byte copy of the whole disk but use partimage or similar). Best Regards Phil On Fri, 2009-08-07 at 18:27 +0100, Tim Dobson wrote: > Umm yeah I can probably sort of help. > > One of the projects I'm working on is a customised version of Ubuntu > 8.04 (LTS is a good idea!) that in theory you can use to easily install > Ubuntu server with an asterisk voip server and a web UI for configuring it. > > There's some quite good wiki page on this subject: > https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallCDCustomization > (that's the page for desktop installations - what I'm doing wiki ubuntu > server is a bit different) > > Essentially there are two steps: > > * create a customised ISO > * put the customised ISO on a usb stick and make it work. > > As we've been finding the second step quite difficult, we've been > concentrating on the first step and testing the first bit on CDs - > there's no need to complicate things further at this stage. > > Customising the install process is in theory fairly easy, unfortunately, > I had quite a few issues getting the Ubuntu-keyring package to function > correctly so at the moment I'm using a non-ideal solution whereby the > preseed late_command runs a script to install some packages. > > It's still a very bad way of doing things and I'll have to go back and > see what it is that wasn't quite going right to start off with. > > What you need is to preseed most of the Ubuntu installer (Alan linked to > some good documentation here), modify the image or do something to > install those extra packages and modifications, work out how to get the > customised image to boot from usb correctly. > > Just to emphasise, I'm NOT an expert in this area, it just so happens > I've been banging my head about this sort of thing for the past few > weeks, so I know a little. :) > > Would love to hear how you get on! > > Tim > > Phil Lewis wrote: > > Hi, > > > > Does anyone here know of any open source software solution that will > > allow me to image an Ubuntu laptop on to a USB stick so that it can be > > used by a technophobic teacher to rebuild a laptop when one goes bad? > > > > The reimaging has got to be REALLY SIMPLE - e.g.: > > > > 1) Plug in usb stick > > 2) Power up netbook > > 3) Click or type 'yes' to confirm > > 4) Wait for a while > > 5) Plug out usb stick > > 6) Repower netbook > > > > Some background: a primary school has asked me to design and rollout a > > 30-60 netbook solution for their classrooms. I am planning on an Ubuntu > > 9.04 build with specific educational extras. It will be somewhat > > customised such that the kids/teachers will find it easy to use and > > start apps etc (more concerned about teachers here of course). Since I'm > > trying to get a basic third-party commercial support contract for the > > setup, I want the support people to be able to tell the teachers to just > > insert a USB stick to reimage a laptop if required. > > > > I could go with a scripted PXE-boot based install system but given that > > all these netbooks will we wireless I think this would make it harder > > for staff if they have to find an ethernet cable before re-imaging > > if/when required. Also with all the (documented) tweaks to the desktop > > etc, PXE would be quite a tedious scripting task and probably not the > > best solution given that the build will be almost static. > > > > Any ideas/solutions welcome... > > > > -- > > > > Phil Lewis > > > > > > - > > Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please > > visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. > > Unofficial list archive: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > - > Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please > visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. > Unofficial list archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
